At the time of writing this blog, several members of the Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) are feverishly working on the final report on the UK VAT system. The report, which is expected to be laid in Parliament before the Budget in November 2017, is the culmination of a review which has been taking place over the last twelve months. It is intended that the Chancellor will subsequently make a formal response to the proposals made by the OTS.

The European Commission must ensure that its proposed changes to VAT set out in its action plan do not harm the cash flows of businesses of all sizes and avoid increasing companies’ already significant compliance burdens.